Evan in Africa

Worst Conclusion Ever

2008-02-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

So far I've failed to mention that I've returned from The Gambia and have been in the States for about 5 days now. Right now it just feels extremely surreal to be here and not there. I'm still kind of going over the experience in my head and thinking "what was that?" Sometime when I get the itch I will write a more fitting conclusion and try to put some time into something meaningful, but here's the truth: this blog doesn't capture even 1% of my experiences, challenges, rewards, high points, low points, successes, failures, joys, sorrows, new normalities, and absurdities. More later.

Note: I realize the post before this has disappeared. I'll try to get it back up.

Research Projects

2008-02-07T01:49:00.000-08:00

Mo Fiya (More Fire)!

2008-01-31T02:00:00.000-08:00

My prophecies from my last post have already begun manifesting themselves. Today the computer lab was about 75 yards from burning down. The students have been discontent with school policies, especially about being required to go to night class, so they have turned to arson. Our school grounds have been the victim of five arson incidents in the past two weeks and two of those incidents have occurred within the past 12 hours. All of the incidents occurred during night classes except for the one today. None of the fires have posed any threat to any buildings until today because our school property contains several acres of land - most of the fires were started 200-300 yards away from any buildings. The incidents usually achieve the interruption of classes and students congregating a safe distance from the flames screaming "mo fiya! mo fiya (more fire)!" If the arsonist's goal was to generate international media attention, I suppose I helped him/her succeed - although they'll never know that because my students don't know about this blog.

Take note the side of the firetruck says "Avon County" - no, there's no Avon County in Africa that I'm aware of - possibly Avon, CO?? But is that in Avon County?

I'm surprised this picture turned out at all because I was shaking with uncontrollabe laughter. This fireman is running from bees. Several of them were running from bees - dressed in full fireman attire. The tree that caught on fire was the home to hundreds of them. They were extremely pissed off. I couldn't stop laughing until they came after me, but I ran away zig zagging and juking like Barry Sanders and shook them off - on second thought I think you're supposed to run away zig zagging from either bears or crocodiles. Afterwards I felt kinda bad because a couple of the firemen were laying in the grass in agony because they were stung a few times. The lab is actually on lockdown right now because the bees have advanced their assault to the classrooms.

Visions of Upcountry IT Apocalyptic Mayhem

2008-01-21T11:41:00.000-08:00

If I ever wrote a book about my experiences with IT here (which I won’t), I think I would title it Memoirs and Visions of Upcountry IT Apocalyptic Mayhem.

As the time for me to leave here draws nigh, I’m starting to imagine a horrible future for IT in Basse. In my nightmarish visions I see power supplies and monitors exploding every which way. I see Phillips-head screwdrivers jabbing violently into motherboards. I see one of my counterparts with the most sinister laughter, arms spread out at his sides – a box of matches in one hand and WD40 in the other hand - standing over a computer case that’s sparking and pulsating with plumes of fire. I see my other counterpart laughing like a hyena and scuffing his shoes on the carpet to build static electricity and then handling sticks of RAM. I also see the Brontok virus (a ridiculously annoying and widespread computer virus here - non-sexually transmitted through flash drives) mutating and going airborne and people uncontrollably defecating executable files disguised as folders (that’s what the virus does). I see infected zombie children tearing out all of the cat5 cable and then using it as jump ropes and donkey whips. I also see our school’s data entry clerks gathering all of the town’s keyboards and setting them below the only 3 story building in Basse, dousing them with gasoline, and then I see them carrying the Education Office’s $5000 heavy duty copy machine to the top of that 3 story building, setting it on fire, and then pushing it off of the building onto the keyboards. Just for good measure, the Four Horsemen will stop by and club people in the faces with swinging mice. When all is destroyed and the dust has settled, Basse will appear to have been bombed by TigerDirect.com.

Just because I'm a Peace Corps volunteer I think I'm required to actually say I'm joking. The Thought Police are always reading these. There are actually people employed in Washington to read and monitor Peace Corps blogs and correct them if they see fit. It's probably for the best I suppose. I know some pretty deranged volunteers posting out there.

The Life of Mammals

2008-01-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Lately I’ve been feeling a bit guilty about playing animal documentaries for my neighbors. The past week or so I’ve been playing a David Attenborough series called The Life of Mammals. Initially I thought “Yeah, this will be a good one to show them. None of that Hollywood crap. Educational…animals…David Attenborough at 70+ years old climbing trees and snorkling, yes, yes, yes.” I didn’t take into account that I might be destabilizing much of what they know and understand about the earth and the life inhabiting this planet. Everyone (especially the kids) was really excited to see all the animals, but for each animal the children would naturally ask their father what the animal was. He confidently told them the sloth was a monkey, the echidna and pica were rats, etc. By the time the duck-billed platypus came swimming around, it was obvious his confidence had been shaken.

When I play Hollywood films the people here just chalk it off as “Ohh look at what those crazy white people and Chinamen gone up and done again. That’s amazing. Boom! Kill those bad guys! Karate chop his face! Those people have enough money.” When it comes to the natural world I think a lot of the people here think they already know basically all there is to know because some of them spend almost every day out in the wilderness farming, collecting firewood, or maybe some will travel to see relatives or buy goods.

By the end of a few episodes the look on my neighbor’s face seemed to say “Maybe I really don’t know that much at all and I will probably never see any of these other places in the world.” Which is unfortunately for him true. 99% of the people here live in a world of about 50 square kilometres. In this country that is half the size of Vermont some might move as far as the coast. As far as other countries go some might travel to Senegal. .001% will walk on another continent and that’s the dream for 90% of the population.

In a similar incident I was at the neighborhood bar the other night, and the people there were watching an American show titled something like Daddy’s Spoiled Little Girl on satellite TV. It’s one of the only American TV shows I’ve seen on that channel. In this show the girl’s father took her to a car dealership and she was pissed off because her father wanted to buy her a silver $60,000 Mercedes sedan, and she already had a black $60,000 Mercedes sedan. She actually had her personal attorney come to the car dealership to argue her case. So he could keep his job, the attorney pleaded that she was promised the other car a few weeks ago. He lost, but maybe he kept his job. Later they went to check out a $1 million house for her, but she thought it was absolutely disgusting. The next morning this girl woke up at noon and started drinking in bed, and then three $1000 dresses came that she had delivered. Two of them were gross, but she picked out one for the day. Then her father called from the car dealership saying he had purchased the other car. She went to the dealership where her father was waiting, and then took the car without saying a word. People in other countries are watching this show that can't even afford a new donkey, goat, or chicken.

Be proud America. That is how people in other countries view you because you produce, watch, and support television shows like that every week. Did I mention the show was being broadcast on Arabic satellite television? I can’t seem to think why anyone would dislike us. Next time you're channel surfing try watching those ridiculous shows through the eyes of Third World farmers and goat herders!

Wet and Wild

2007-12-31T04:07:00.000-08:00

Looky here! I've been working on a lesson plan to show students how dangerous drinking open-well water can be, and I was able to borrow a Dino Lite digital microscope, and this is what I was able to find in the open-well in my compound! I really had no idea what it was, but according to one of the Peace Corps doctors it is probably aedes aegypti mosquito larvae; which grows up to become the mosquito that transmits dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya, and others. It's probably not too harmful to drink, but it was enough for some of my students to vow to never drink open-well water without boiling it first. I shall continue to hunt for nastier and more malicious critters lurking beneath the water in my well.

The night sky was incredibly bright and celestial last night. If you live somewhere where you can see the sky or if you're planning on camping or traveling or going for a drive, I highly recommend downloading Stellarium from http://www.stellarium.org . It's planetarium software. You can simply put the time, date, and location in, and then it will show you the sky, stars, star clusters, constellations, constellation art, planets, etc. You can move forward and back in time and the sky will change accordingly, and you can also zoom in on clusters and planets. It's almost like Google Universe. Check it out.

Six to Eight Black Men

2007-12-22T01:45:00.000-08:00

I just thought I should share this timely excerpt from an exceedingly hilarious and sidesplitting book I'm reading by David Sedaris (NPR, This American Life) called Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim:

While eight flying reindeer are a hard pill to swallow, our Christmas story remains relatively dull. Santa lives with his wife in a remote polar village and spends one night a year traveling around the world. If you're bad, he leaves you coal. If you're good and live in America, he'll give you just about anything you want. We tell our children to be good and send them off to bed, where they lie awake, anticipating their great bounty. A Dutch parent has a decidedly hairier story to relate, telling his children, "Listen, you might want to pack a few of your things together before going to bed. The former bishop of Turkey will be coming tonight along with six to eight black men. They might put some candy in your shoes, they might stuff you into a sack and take you to Spain, or they might just pretend to kick you. We don't know for sure, but we want you to be prepared."

This is the reward for living in the Netherlands. As a child you get to hear this story, and as an adult you get to turn around and repeat it. As an added bonus, the government has thrown in legalized drugs and prostitution - so what's not to love about being Dutch?

Oscar finished his story just as we arrived at the station. He was an amiable guy - very good company - but when he offered to wait until my train arrived I begged off, claiming I had some calls to make. Sitting alone in the vast, vibrant terminal, surrounded by thousands of polite, seemingly interesting Dutch people, I couldn't help but feel second-rate. Yes, the Netherlands was a small country, but it had six to eight black men and a really good bedtime story. Being a fairly competitive person, I felt jealous, then bitter. I was edging toward hostile when I remembered the blind hunter tramping off alone into the Michigan forest...

Happy Holidays! / Plan for Withdrawal

2007-12-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is underway in The Gambia. I avoided the market at all costs today because everyone is preparing for the Muslim festival called Tobaski (Eid al-Adha in Arabic) on Thursday.

From answers.com:

Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى ‘Īd al-’Aḍḥā) is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims worldwide as a commemoration of Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael for Allah. It is one of two Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate. Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha also begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon (khuṭba).

Eid al-Adha is three days long and starts on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja (ذو الحجة) of the lunar Islamic calendar. This is the day after the pilgrims in Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.
Men, women, and children are expected to dress in their finest clothing and perform the Eid prayer (Salatu'l-`id) in any mosque. Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice their best domestic animals (usually sheep, but also camels, cows, and goats) as a symbol of Ibrahim's (Abraham's) sacrifice. The sacrificed animals, called "udhiya Arabic: أضحية", have to meet certain age and quality standards or else the animal is considered an unacceptable sacrifice. At the time of sacrifice, Allah's name is recited along with the offering statement and a supplication as Muhammad said. According to the Quran a large portion of the meat has to be given towards the poor and hungry people so they can all join in the feast which is held on Eid-ul-Adha.The remainder is cooked for the family celebration meal in which relatives and friends are invited to share. The regular charitable practices of the Muslim community are demonstrated during Eid ul-Adha by the concerted effort to see that no impoverished Muslim is left without sacrificial food during these days. Coming immediately after the annual hajj ends with the celebration of the Day of Mount Arafat. Eid ul-Adha is a concrete affirmation of what the Muslim community ethic means in practice. People in these days are expected to visit their relations, starting with their parents, then their families and friends.

Plan for Withdrawal:

Effective on January 1, 2008, I will no longer touch a computer in an attempt to repair it, or any piece of hardware, network cable, switch, firewall, virus, or anything that shares the likeness. I want to turn everything over to my counterparts and see how they handle things. My counterparts are enthusiastic, but the offices and businesses we've been doing work at are about as excited as an arctic seal going up for air at an icehole where a polar bear is waiting to club and mangle it (watched Blue Planet last night). I've been referring government offices/businesses to my counterparts for a while, but they keep insisting that I come personally instead because they say they trust me more. Some of these people calling me are not used to hearing the word "no", but I've been trying my best to explain to them that my goal in being here is to train Gambians to help other Gambians, and my counterparts are in fact properly trained and know what their doing. I've definitely pissed a few people off, but fortunately my counterparts usually solve the problems and the half-life for a grudge here is only a day or two.

I met an interesting photographer the other day that has been traveling around Africa for around 5 years. He said he's finally running out of money and is going back to the states.
Check out his website and publications:
http://www.thomasmillerphotographer.com

I also just heard my good friend Joe Riis has a term photo published in the January '08 issue of National Geographic! Congrats Joe!
http://www.joeriis.com

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Chanukkah, Tobaski, Eid al-Adha!

Here is a gift voucher for everyone:
Gift Voucher

40 Years

2007-11-30T10:51:00.000-08:00

This past week I was in the Banjul area for Peace Corps meetings and ceremonies. This month we are celebrating Peace Corps The Gambia's 40th Anniversary. It is the only country in the world the Peace Corps has been in to go for 40 years without interruption of service (wars, civil unrest, violent coups, etc). It was a good weekend. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Ambassador's house on the beach, and a couple days later we had a ceremony at a hotel to celebrate the 40th anniversary. The program was put together well and included speeches from our new country director, PC staff, testimonials from Gambians, a slideshow, and a secret agent-esque official congratulations from the desk of the U.S. Peace Corps Director, except the message didn't self-destruct afterwards, and to tell you the truth I didn't recognize the director because the directorship has changed since I've been here. Nevertheless, I'm going to request a copy of the video e-mailed to me personally. Most impressively, a gentleman from the first PC group in 1967 was there and he hasn't left the country since. I'm not too sure what kind of work he has been doing, but he seemed normal. On the abnormal side of things, I met a man that said something to the effect of "I arrived here in 1980. My name used to be Tim but now I'm Brother Dimas!" He was a heavy-set, jolly and jovial type, had long white hair, a big white beard, a blue monk-like outfit, and a big wooden "T" necklace.

Right now we're in the middle of final exams here at the high school. We will be generating reports cards from our database for the first time as long as no catastrophes occur.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and don't forget to remind your children this holiday season (especially if they're refusing to eat) that there are starving PC volunteers in Africa.

Cacophony of the Apocalypse

2007-11-09T10:54:00.001-08:00

At approximately 5:50 A.M. this morning I woke up to 3 simultaneous prayer calls, 2 donkeys, a pack of stray dogs howling, a rooster, and an unknown bird. The first prayer call acted as the catalyst. One gets used to all those sounds and can even sleep through them, but the way they all came to together this morning grabbed my ears like meat hooks fresh from a kiln. In case you need visual assistance in imagining what the cacophony of the apocalypse will sound like:

Chalkdust Torture

2007-11-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Due to the never ending battle of our school's fuse box and faulty wiring, these past two weeks it has been back to the chalk board; no electricity. I'm beginning to master methods of stalling classes, and I'm starting to become aware of my former teachers' stalling methods that I never noticed at the time. Unfortunately, the most obvious method, playing a videotaped PBS series, is not an option. I'm also getting extremely good at slowing down my speech to speeds not uncommon to the crawling pace of an injured sloth.

Lack of silence usually doesn't bother me in the computer lab because students are always helping each other to find solutions and moving about, but when I'm trying to lecture and explain things on the chalkboard I require silence. This can often be difficult to come by, especially on entering a classroom. I'm tired of yelling, so lately I've been working on my Clint Eastwood "I don't have six-shooter drawn but as you can see by the look on my face I'm about to pump your head full of mind bullets, or maybe throw an eraser at you, and you'll be pushin' daiseys, unless you take out your notebook and pencil and shut the hell up." I'm getting pretty good at it. My favorite stare-downs occur when the rest of the class notices it and submits except for maybe two people, and the whole class is silent, shifting glances from me to them in anticipation of what will happen next... BOOM! Eraser in the face.

The Writings on the Wall Pt. 1

2007-10-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I don't know whether my ideas are original or whether I ripped them off from somewhere but I've always wanted to make a bathroom/coffee table type book called "The Writings on the Wall" and collaborate with other photographer friends around the world and get a compilation of writings on walls and in bathroom stalls, along with translations if it's in another language. I think you can discover a vast amount of information, values, and culture by just looking at what people take time to write on walls. I've seen quite a bit of interesting things written places here, but I haven't had a camera most of the time. Here's some things I've photographed just around our school, which might not really interest you that much, but I'm going to try to get some better ones before my time is up here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

I've also uploaded quite a few more pictures I've been meaning to upload. Also, I realize my pictures are in extreme disarray, but that's because of bandwidth and time constraints.

Ramadan

2007-10-07T12:40:00.001-07:00

I failed to mention in my last post that the month of Ramadan is underway, and is actually over very soon. I mentioned this in a post last year, but it definitely makes teaching and learning challenging. What I probably didn't mention last year was what Ramadan actually is.

It's really quite beautiful. From answers.com:

Ramadan 2007 (the year 1428 AH, according to the Muslim reckoning) runs from approximately September 13 to October 12. The exact dates depend on one's geographical location.

A blessed month has arrived. Observing it in fasting is mandated on you. During this month, the gates of Paradise will be opened and the gates of Hellfire will be closed. (Abu Hureirah)

Ramadan mubarak! (a blessed Ramadan!)

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the most sacred of the twelve months. The name Ramadan derives from the Arabic word for intense heat and sun-scorched ground. A number of reasons have been advanced to explain the linguistic connection:
It refers to the hot, dry sensation of thirst during this month of fasting
Ramadan scorches out evil like the sun scorches the earth
Just as heat shapes and influences all matter — organic and inorganic — so does Ramadan shape and influence the believer

Fasting

The Koran mandates fasting during the month of Ramadan:

The month of Ramadan is that in which the Koran was revealed, a guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the distinction; therefore whoever of you is present in the month, he shall fast therein, and whoever is sick or upon a journey, then (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days... (sura 2.185, known as The Cow)

Fasting, or sawm, during the month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Sunni Islam.

Why fast?

to develop patience and self-control
to learn sympathy for the deprived
to cleanse the body and mind
to gain appreciation for Allah's bounty
to demonstrate the depth of one's commitment
to protect against sin. A hadith states: "Satan runs in the circulatory system of the son of Adam in the same way blood circulates in our system; so tighten his passages with hunger."

There are, then, three levels of the Ramadan fast:
refraining from the physical things that are forbidden (performed with the mouth/stomach/sexual organs)
restraining oneself from saying, hearing and looking at forbidden things (performed with the senses)
renewing one's devotion to Allah (performed with the heart and mind).

Special meals are eaten before and after each day of fasting: suhoor before the dawn prayers, and iftar, the evening meal often eaten communally and often including dates.

I swore by the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, the breath of the faster is sweeter to Allah on the Day of Judgment than the scent of musk. (Abu Hureirah)

In addition, Ramadan is a time for increased devotion, reading of the Koran, self-improvement, community involvement, charity and good deeds.

He who does not desist from obscene language and acting obscenely, Allah has no need that he did not eat or drink. (Bukhari)
...

Breaking the fast
When Ramadan is over, on the first day of the next month, Shawwal, Muslims celebrate Id al-Fitr (lit., feast of the breaking of the fast).

Id al-fitr is a day of joy, thankfulness, piety, forgiveness, peace and brotherhood. Worshipers dress in their finest clothes, preferably new ones, and, after special early-morning prayers held in large mosques or other venues, visit each other to exchange greetings and good wishes. Special alms, zakat, are given; children receive gifts; and feuds and disputes are settled. Together with the sadness at the end of Ramadan comes the joy at having been granted by Allah the strength to perform the fast.

You can read more about it at answers.com or a million other places if you want.

Next Week: The Writing's on the Wall (for real this time)

Code of Conduct for Teachers

2007-09-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Coming Next Week: The Writing's on the Wall

"A Glaring Inconsistency"

2007-09-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt to ponder from a good book called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig:

I wonder. There's kind of a glaring inconsistency here, that's almost too obvious to dwell on. If they can't stand physical discomfort and they can't stand technology, they've got a little compromising to do. They depend on technology and condemn it at the same time. I am sure they know that and that just contributes to their dislike of the whole situation. They're not presenting a logical thesis, they're just reporting how it is. But three farmers are coming into town now, rounding the corner in that brand-new pickup truck. I'll bet with them it's just the other way around. They're going to show off that truck and their tractor and that new washing machine and they'll have the tools to fix them if they go wrong, and know how to use the tools. They value technology. And they're the ones who need it the least. If all technology stopped tomorrow these people would know how to make out. It would be rough, but they'd survive. John and Sylvia and Chris and I would be dead in a week. This condemnation of technology is ingratitude, that's what it is.

Blind alley, though. If someone's ungrateful and you tell him he's ungrateful, okay, you've called him a name. You haven't solved anything.

When I read that a few bells went off in my head because there's definitely some parallels there in regards to working with technology in Africa. I'm definitely not saying everyone here is a mechanic or technician, but most people here are incredibly willing to learn all these new things being introduced to them. They're accepting all this new technology with open arms and embracing it. Elderly people and uneducated people who have never even had electricity or seen a computer have come up to me and begged me to learn about computers. I think the attitude is quite a bit different for most of America where technology is often viewed as a necessary evil, or an inconvenience that is required to learn. I could definitely argue that it is an inhuman, isolating, necessary evil, but I just wanted to make a point. If these people lost all modern technology, they would manage just fine, but I shudder to think what would happen in the States.

Speaking of willingness to embrace technology, surprisingly I've been given the go-ahead to design a database to do away with most paper records here at the school, as well as network most of the school together. There's probably only 1 or 2 other high schools in the country at the most that has a system as advanced. It's even a decent sized database with around 20 tables. It's coming along well and the accountants, administrators, and teachers are showing a good amount of enthusiasm. I just hope everything will still run smoothly after I leave. I have 2 computer-literate counterparts that I'll be doing plenty of training with, but sometimes I still have my doubts.

Malheureusement, Je n'ai pas de parapluie

2007-08-31T05:01:00.000-07:00

I'm back to write another post and it's not raining outside, but if I sit here long enough, it probably will. And then the rain will come heavy, and then lighten, and I will have to make a decision on whether I should ride my bike home now as the rain is falling somewhat lightly before it potentially goes torrential again, getting a bit muddy in the process, or I could wait and see if it stops completely. This week I've been deciding wrong most of the time, but last week I was on cue. This week I've been deciding to go home when the rain lightens, and I get wet and muddy riding through puddles and torrents, and my bike chain gets all nasty. I'll arrive at home and the rain will stop completely; wrong decision. Last week I would do the same, but the long torrential downpours came. Yesterday I just said to hell with it and I just jumped on my bike in the middle of a downpour. It's a good feeling to just accept how muddy, wet, and cold you and your clothes are about to get and just run into the downpour every now and then. I've been keeping a plastic bag in my pocket ever since the rains started coming to protect anything that I don't want wet.

Summer classes started on August 1st and end tomorrow, and then we will have a week break and some teacher workshops. School will start again on August 10th. This past month I've been teaching or at least trying to teach my students MS Excel. I only have 2 more terms left to teach. This fall we'll focus on Excel, Powerpoint, and the Internet. I was horrified to find out none of the grade 12 students have ever researched or done a report on anything in their lives, so the 2nd and final term for my students will be focused on doing research and presenting a group report with Powerpoint to the grade 12 class. I'm hoping that it will become a yearly presentation; kind of a capstone computer project. The students won't have computer class during the 3rd term (a school year is 3 terms) because they will be focusing on their West African Exams.

Besides school, I've just been helping a couple internet cafés to get going, which is turning out to be more difficult than I imagined because the people running them have less experience on computers than some of my students. Believe it or not, a lot of things can go wrong with a small network of 5-10 second or third-hand computers. Also, we have internet at the school once again, so expect to see more frequent blog posts, and I'll be trying to get caught up on my e-mails.

Sierra Leone: How da Body?

2007-08-07T05:47:00.000-07:00

After a couple weeks in Sierra Leone, I have returned. It was a great time to get away from The Gambia for a while. Quite the interesting trip. A Peace Corps friend and I stayed with the family of some friends of mine in Basse. Our plan was to stay in Freetown for a few days and then go up-country to Kenema. Unfortunately, the family's residence we were going to stay at filled up from villagers frightened of the up-coming presidential election on August 11. They felt vulnerable living in the smaller villages and fled to Kenema for the time being until the election is over. Most of the people in Sierra Leone have been through a lot, and that became more apparent the longer I stayed there.

We stayed in a part of Freetown called Calaba Town. This part of Freetown was one of the many areas the RUF rebels terrorized during "Operation No Living Thing". The house we stayed in was one of the few that wasn't completely burned down in that area of Calaba Town. I never really asked anyone much about that time period, but the people there didn't hesitate to bring it up a few times. I heard some horrible stories, but the people (at least the ones I talked to) didn't sound as bitter about the war as you might imagine. Most of them were frustrated with the government at the time as well; many said it was just horrible how it ended up turning out. It's pretty complicated and horrible, and I don't think I should get into it much on this blog.

From the start of our trip at the airport in Banjul to the end of the trip the Sierra Leoneans were some of the nicest, friendliest, and most helpful people I've ever met. It was refreshing to go to an African country where tourism hasn't spoiled much of the local population. Yes, of course tourism benefits The Gambia and SOME of it's people, but like I've said in other posts, a lot of tourists come here and throw out money and candy, which makes it a bit difficult for foreign workers trying to preach and teach sustainability. Anyways, it was nice to experience genuine kindness from the people of Sierra Leone.

Freetown is a beautiful area with great people, but it definitely has some problems. There hasn't been electricity in Freetown for about 6 months, and no running water in most of the area I was staying in. Traffic is absurd in the downtown areas, mostly due to way too many poda-poda's (taxi vans). One of the biggest sources of Freetown's problems is the flood of people that came to Freetown during the 10 year war; they haven't left yet and don't plan to. My prediction is as long as this election goes smoothly, things will begin to get much better there. I think a lot of investment and aid is probably waiting to see what happens. Totally unofficial information, but I'm guessing Peace Corps will probably open up there again not too long after this election.

Here's just a few pictures until I get a constant internet connection again:

When you land at the airport in SL, you actually land across an inlet from Freetown. After you land you need to cross the inlet to Freetown on a ferry. This is what Freetown looks like when you're crossing.

While we were in Freetown we met some people that were making a local film and we hung out with them for a few days. These pictures were taken from where they were shooting in the film in Allen Town, which is the far west of Freetown. I think it has the best view of anywhere we went around Freetown, and it's not even a wealthy area!

The man in the picture with me above is the director of the film. During the war he hadn't eaten for a few days, so he found a red bandanna and a knife and tried to imitate the appearance of a rebel so he could be fed. A rebel questioned him and he bravely said "What are you doing questioning me in a time like this?! This is war!" Fortunately, he was fed that day and lived to tell about it. He told me that during "Operation No Living Thing" people tried to swim across the river in these photos to be safe from the rebels, but many drowned.

This is one of the beaches in the east. It's called Lumley Beach. It's one of the few that local people are actually welcome at anymore because the rest have been bought up and developed. Lot's of good small beach bars to relax at, and there's usually hardly anyone there.

This is a typical scene during the rainy season. Not too many wells or running water where I was at, so when the rains came many people would be outside under rooftops collecting rain.

Let's hope for the best on August 11th!

Headin' Down South

2007-07-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

In a couple days I'm heading to Sierra Leone. A friend and I will be staying with the families of friends we've met here in The Gambia. We'll be around Freetown for a few days and then we'll be going up-country to the provinces. We'll be staying in Kenema for a majority of the trip, which is where a lot of the diamond trading goes on, so that will be interesting.. but don't worry. It shouldn't be too dangerous. I'll have a lot more to say after the trip.

CIA World Factbook: Sierra Leone

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sl.html

School's Out for the Rainy Season

2007-06-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

I thought about pulling the old Fox News trick and making up a dramatic story to accompany this picture. Wrong news network, FNC would just deny it ever existed. Or maybe more accurately they would say hateful nomadic Palestinian Islamic extremists funded by Iran with weapons manufactured in Russia caused this while smoking Cuban cigars after attending a Pro-Obama rally where a whole lot of flip-flopping was taking place. But no, it's simply just children playing in some old rubble next to some grass that was burning.

The other day I heard a Christian teacher say to a Muslim teacher with a cell phone "What are you doing with that mobile phone??! You're going to blow us all up aren't you? Muslims shouldn't be allowed to have mobile phones." He was referring to Islamic extremists using cell phones to detonate bombs. The Muslim teacher replied "Okay then Christians shouldn't be allowed to have guns because they kill everything in site when they have one in their hands." The two teachers just chuckled and shook their heads then went on with their day. No lawsuits, no one lost their job, no news stories, no fights, no riots. And this was in an Islamic school. Too bad things can't be that relaxed in other places in the world. Could you imagine a Muslim teacher in America saying something comparable to that in a Christian school? Could you even imagine a Christian school hiring a Muslim?

The third and final term is now wrapping up here. I just need to calculate grades and then I'm done with school until September. I'll have some more time to do a little bit of traveling and work on other projects. The rainy season is just starting now as well, so that's exciting. Soon somehow plants will start growing out of the formerly dry, barren dirt and sand, and the land will become lush and green. Soon I'll be able to watch the ominous cloud formations roll over the bush while they bang on their drums in the distance; gathering troops, deciding which cardinal direction to attack. Soon I'll be curled up in the fetal position sucking my thumb while thunder, lightning, and wind threaten to annihilate my hut. It's a common occurance for people to loose their rooftops during the rainy season.

In two weeks I'll be going to the Banjul area again for an all-volunteer meeting. On July 4th we'll be slightly more American than usual and we will be having a party at a beer factory it sounds like. The second week in July I'm planning to go to Sierra Leone. I'll hopefully be staying with some relatives of one of my friends. I'm still debating on whether I want to spend my time in Freetown itself, or out in the countryside. I'm leaning toward the second choice. I've heard the countryside is beautiful there and the village people (no relation to the band) are especially friendly. I'll keep you all posted on how that shapes up.

Pets of The Gambia:

Photo Update

2007-05-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of my hut here and a few others:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

Rally 'Round the Red, Black, Gold, and Green

2007-05-10T04:08:00.000-07:00

I may have already said this in a previous post, but from now on I'm going to spare you all the explanations on why it often times takes me so long to update my blog. As they say, "This is Africa." Yesterday I arrived in the Banjul area in record time clocking in at around 6.5 hours; which is about half of the amount of time it took me on my longest trip so far. In a couple days my Peace Corps group will have In-Service Training here where I'm guessing we'll get into discussion groups and a few different people will speak for 4 days. A bit of a refresher course on why we're here, how to deals with things, generate some new ideas, etc.

The 3rd and final term of school started a few weeks ago. The school is a bit more quiet this term. The grade 12 students are busy with their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), so their regularly scheduled classes have concluded. Break-time during the late morning has been chaotic lately. During break students rush to the computer lab to try to use one of the computers that has internet. They usually look up their favorite football clubs and athletes, look up information on visas and universities, find pictures of pop stars, or check their e-mail. The number of students with e-mail addresses now is impressive. They're learning quick. On a down note, one of my grade 11 students passed away last week from a cause all too common here: unknown. She fell down at home, her family took her to the hospital, and she died shortly after that. That's all that is known. The students of her class still came to school the next day, but they were extemely distraught and were sent home.

Tomorrow is the widely celebrated (in Africa) Bob Marley Day. Radio stations all over the continent play nothing but Bob Marley all day and there are concerts, programs, and celebrations. It's actually the anniversary of his death, which is also coincidentally or not the anniversary of my birth. So tomorrow is looking like it will be a reggae birthday. A few of us will probably make our way to the beach and have a few rum and cokes or perhaps gin and juices. When I get back to Basse I promise to put up a few pictures I've been meaning to upload.

TV Turnoff Week

2007-04-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

It's TV turnoff week. Instead of watching TV, go outside and find something to do. I know, I know. Easy for me to say living in a hut.

From Adbusters.com :

Just a reminder that TV Turnoff Week 2007 begins today. If you haven't
yet pulled the plug on you TV, it's definitely not too late. In fact, go
ahead and do it right now -- this newsletter can wait!
The idea is simple: take your TV, your DVD player, your video iPod, your XBOX 360, your laptop, your PSP, and say goodbye to them all for seven days. Simple, but not at all easy. Like millions of others before you, you’ll be shocked at just how difficult – yet also how life-changing – a week spent unplugged can really be.
But there’s a lot more to TV Turnoff Week than shaking up your relationship with passive entertainment. It’s all about saying no to being bombarded with unwelcome and unhealthy commercial messages. It's about saying no to unfettered corporate media concentration and to the democratic deficit that results. And it's about challenging the heavily distorted reflection of the world that we see on the screen, a reflection that is keeping us ill-informed and unaware of the very real political and environmental crises that we all currently face.
This year, we’re returning to the kind of stunt that spawned the Adbusters Media Foundation and our ongoing Media Carta Legal Battle against the corporate gatekeepers that control access to the public airwaves. There are loads of ways you can get involved, whether it’s spreading the word with a poster campaign, posting our spots on your video blog, or making a donation to help us air the uncommercials on broadcast TV.
Or, you can just go ahead and brace yourself for the challenges and joys of seven days spent liberated from the commercial information grid.
Happy Unplugging,
The TV Turnoff Team

Ana laayt bi?

2007-03-31T05:24:00.000-07:00

Last night there was no electricity and a funny thing occurred. Instead of everyone crowding around a TV watching movies at night, the village became vibrant with life. It was a radiantly bright, full moon and there were children running around laughing, playing games and singing old traditional Fula and Mandinka songs. It was a refreshing temporary time warp of how things used to be and will be less often; perhaps forgotten eventually. And now the electricity is back on.

TIA

2007-03-27T03:56:00.000-07:00

This is the way most people watch movies in The Gambia. Someone will bring a TV outside at night that they were able to afford because of a relative in Spain, or somewhere else in Europe or the U.S., and then sometimes dozens of people living in the compound, or neighbors, or other people in the village will gather around and sit in the bantaba (used for shade during the day) and bring any chairs, logs, or mats they can muster up. The children usually sit in the sand. Can you guess what movie they're watching in this picture? If you guessed the 1980's Indian movie “Disco Dancer” about the 1980's Indian disco scene where rival Disco gangs got into fights then you're right. No english, no subtitles. Some other popular films here include all of the Nigerian films, anything with Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, Steven Segal, Arnold (who they are well aware is the Governor of CA; they yell “Yeah Mista Governah! Blow him up!”), and B action movies with the Russian from Rocky IV. I've introduced them to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Harry Potter” and now some of them have an extremely inaccurate view of reality. “Do you have these flying brooms in American?”, “Have you ever seen any of these talking trees?”, “Does America have these Elf people?”, “I hope I never meet a spider that big” , “Africa needs one of these Wizard schools. They're fanastic!” I try explaining that most of it is done with computers, but I don't know how well they like that answer. I'll try to post some Nigerian film recommendations at some point. They're all in English and quite comical.

My final exams are completed and graded for this term now. This term went fairly smooth, and I expect next term to go even better. I keep correcting mistakes I've made as each term goes which is a great thing about teaching. It seems you can continue to refine your art and technique in teaching as you progress. It's nice to start with a clean slate during the next term if a term does end in disaster. I plan on relaxing for the next couple weeks; maybe go on a couple bike rides, explore the bush a bit, sit in the shade and read, and I'm going to start learning Pulaar, the language of the Fula people. We're beginning to enter the peak of the hot season, so it's often between 95-110 degrees, and maybe it will cool down between 80-90 degrees at night. The air-conditioned computer lab, the mango orchards, and a nice shady spot by the river are the best retreats when I need a break from the heat, but it just takes some getting used to for the most part.

Here's a picture of a huge garden near the mango orchards I recently found that I had no idea existed. It was rather surreal at first because we're in the middle of the dry season and most of the country is brown from thirst. We were walking through the mango orchards and then we came to a huge clearing with this enormous garden. The water level is very high here. They just dig wells in the ground about 4-10 feet deep all over the garden and constantly water the plants by the bucket load. In this garden they grow red peppers, potatoes, onions, lettuce, and a few other things. During the wet season it's flooded and they're grow rice.

Updated Photo Album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

Chursday

2007-03-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

Me: We'll meet again on Thursday.
Students: Tuesday?
Me: No, Thursday.
Students: Next Tuesday?
Me: No, Chursday.
Students: Ohhhhh, Chuuuurssday!

I'm back. The softball tournament in Dakar was a lot of fun, and it was a nice break from the normal routine. Surprisingly, Gambian volunteers are probably the most normal of the Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa. The Peace Corps volunteers of Mauritania are nuts.. a bit out there in left field. We mutually decided it was the country that did it to them. Both of our teams made our mark in the tournament. Our competitive team almost made the semi-finals, but we ended up choking to one of Dakar's teams. Our non-competitive team gave up the most runs ever in the history of the tournament according to one of the tournament organizers. I've now passed my peak in softball ability; I had a grandslam with 2 outs, so that was kind of exciting.

The tournament organizers placed each of us in a homestay with someone somehow involved with the U.S. Embassy. A few friends and I had a great homestay with a U.S. Army Attache. Staying with his family was like being in the States again. They even had different types of American cereal and Budweiser; though I wouldn't recommend mixing them. Dakar has a lot of great food that Gambia doesn't have, so that was refreshing also. Senegal is a French (Wolof being the majority tribe) speaking country, so it was kind of amusing for us Wolof speakers to confuse the locals with our lack of French but knowledge of Wolof. They don't get too many white people coming through Dakar whose Wolof is better than their French.

Yesterday I went to my first Fula marriage ceremony. It's more of a week long series of events. Two days ago they took the groom out to the bush to beat him severely with sticks and machettes. It's done in secret with a few elders, and then everyone waits on the edge of the village for the groom to return (Pictured). It's actually kind of a funny tradition; not because of the being beaten severely with sticks and machettes part, but because these musicians follow them out there and back playing their traditional instruments. They follow the groom around off and on for a few days, so it's like he has his own live theme music where ever he goes ("C-mon guys, seriously, I'm trying to take a piss here"). Last night, the bride arrived from her village along with 150 other people. Most of the guests had to sleep outside on mats because there wasn't enough room for them. There was music and dancing from 10 P.M. until 8 A.M.

A Few New Photos

2007-02-11T03:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a few new photo's. Hopefully I'll have some more up soon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

"How many times do I have to tell you? No machetes in the classroom."

2007-02-03T01:20:00.000-08:00

As you can see I’ve been extremely busy building my new home. That’s why I haven’t posted in a while. No no don’t worry, that’s not my new home. It’s a datta/bantaba for shade because the hot season is on it’s way, and as I’m sure you could tell by my feeble attempt to pretend like I was building in the picture, I didn’t really build any of it, but I did help carry the wood and grass for it. It was fun to watch though. The often abided “measure twice cut once” holds no ground here. Instead, my friend did no measuring whatsoever and just climbed a tree and started hacking the crap out of branches with a machete (in a unrelated event a teacher here was recently assaulted with a machete. I've banned machetes from my classroom). Then we walked around the bush and got this plant for the rope, that plant for the roof, this branch to strengthen that, and so on. It was impressive to watch, and even more impressive that everything worked perfectly. My new compound only has young trees that are still growing, so I definitely needed some shade to relax under. Yes, I moved to another compound. My new one is much more peaceful and relaxing. It’s on the edge of the village and the backyard is the Gambian bush with a few rolling hills, so it has a nice view. I’ll get some more photos up when I get some more batteries for my camera. My new place even has a convenient garbage disposal system reminiscent to that of The Flintstones. I just scrape my food scraps outside and the neighbors’ goats, chicken, and sheep take care of the rest.

Work is going well and I’m staying busy. I’m still at the high school, and also doing a few projects at some of the government offices and a couple businesses. I will post again in a couple weeks. I’m going Dakar, Senegal for a softball tournament in 2 weeks. We will be playing different Peace Corps teams from West Africa, a couple NGO’s, and maybe a Marines team. Team Gambia shall be victorious.

And here's a picture I thought was cool of some well diggers:

2007 Evan

2007-01-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year / Tobaski / 6 month anniversary of my arrival. I made it back from Banjul a couple days after Christmas without any transportation issues (major). For the most part, I've just been relaxing before the next school term starts. It should begin next week sometime. I actually wrote this post a few days ago; I just haven't been able to post it. It seems the recent "network upgrade" was in fact a downgrade and I'm guessing they're just sharing the same amount of bandwidth with more people. It's hard enough keeping a blog updated with a reliable internet connection.

New Year's Eve happened to be on the Muslim holiday Tobaski this year, so things were kind of wild here the past couple days. Just like Ramadan, there were hundreds of kids running around everyone asking people for salibo (holiday gifts; usually money). They especially enjoy hounding me down with no mercy. Since I can't afford to give out too much salibo on my Peace Corps allowance, I've just been asking them for salibo instead. No luck yet. On NYE I had my cell phone pick-pocketed in a situation I could have easily avoided by not being in such a tightly packed area with so many people. I did have all my things in different pockets though, so that was all the thief got. I actually caught the person's hand, but I was extremely hesitant to yell "sachee (thief)!" because that would have resulted in a near death experience for that person AND I didn't think he got away with anything in the first place. By the time I actually realized he sniped my cell, he slipped away very sneakily sly. For some reason, there were about 5-10 people (mostly strangers) more upset by the loss than me and they ran around searching people that looked like the thief and investigating. I started to regret even mentioning it because of all the trouble they went through. I even had to calm a couple of them by saying "Get a hold of yourselves! It's gone. There's nothing we can do now." The next day I was writing off the loss as a case of "shit happens. deal with it." but then someone actually came up with the cell phone and I got it back. As an added bonus, they even charged it up for me. Amazing. I don't think that would have happened in too many other countries I've been in. Developing country or not. Not my first incident with a cell phone being stolen in a foreign country (sorry Joey). Luckily, the cells here all run on prepaid minutes, so there weren't several calls to Tijuana and Mexico City being charged at $2 per minute this time. My host mother's heated advice was "Don't make friends! They're not good!" but I'm not too sure how applicable those words of advice were to my situation; nor the truth of them. To sooth her nerves I assured her "Okay Mariama. No more friends." Here's a photo taken on Tobaski with some guys I was drumming with:

By the way.. I got my absentee ballot in the mail just in time for Christmas! Thanks a ton for everyone else that sent their greetings and packages also!

Geli-Geli's and Garland

2006-12-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

"A Gambian is never late; nor are they early. They arrive precisely when they mean to." - E.M. Roth

Actually that's not true at all; they just have a different concept of time (e.g. morning, afternoon, night), and that's not my quote at all.. it's from Lord of the Rings and I inserted "Gambian" instead of "Wizard." Well, finals are over and they actually ended up being a week later than planned because they were printed in Banjul.. which is where I'm at right now. After I graded all the exams and turned in my grades I headed down here. The trip clocked in at a cool 16 hours which covered a distance roughly from Pierre to Sioux Falls (or Bismark to Fargo). The reasons: geli-geli's (vans; pictured), check points (10+), and ferry crossings (3). I definitely have a greater appreciation for distance after that trip. The good news is that trips from Basse to Banjul can't get much worse. There were elders on the gelis (vans) saying that that was the worst trip they had ever been on. So that says a lot. I haven't said much about these geli-geli's, but for those of you from Pierre I would say they would make excellent Gov-mobiles. Or maybe I should say Gov-mobiles would make excellent (above average) geli-geli's. They're quite comparable, but a Gov-mobile might be more comfortable because they normally don't have 20-30 people crammed in. And they're definitely less fun because there's no paintball guns or eggs. But there are goats, chickens, rams, and sometimes excess passengers strapped on top to make up for it. Anyways, the 1st big geli broke down around 20 km outside of Basse, so they sent us 2 small ones. I chose the geli that ended up breaking down around the halfway point of the trip. The driver tried fixing it for a while, then gave up and hiked back to a nearby village to look for a mechanic. The mechanic fixed the problem in-part by tying a rope around part of the axle. I didn't ask any questions; I just wanted to get to Banjul and I was in the middle of the bush. If you think traveling in a geli would be scary during the day, it's an evil Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at night. At one point.. after the rope and knot axle repair, the driver slammed on the brakes and we skidded for a good 10 feet because he didn't see a checkpoint and thought we were going to hit a truck. A completely unnecessary reaction, but we left the checkpoint unscathed. The police at the checkpoint almost didn't let the driver go unscathed. We eventually reached our final destination and here I am.

There will be an education sector meeting on the 22nd, so it will be the first time I've seen most of the people in my training group since September. Most of us will spend Christmas together, then I'll probably head back to Basse a couple days after Christmas. Unless I decide to stick around for New Years.. which will also be around the big Muslim holiday Tobaski. I've just been laying around on the couch at the Peace Corps house watching movies and box sets the past couple days. I highly recommend watching season 2 of the American version of The Office, which I watched in it's entirety yesterday. I'm looking forward to hanging out at the beach the next few days. It's going to be a white-sandy beach Christmas.

Happy Holidays!

Finals are next week?

2006-11-29T14:40:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I should retract my last post. I saw my breath on the way to school this morning a couple times. So it got down to whatever that temperature is. Maybe in the 50’s. It’s definitely still plenty warm during the day. Anyways, I found out today that the final exams are next week. I’m not sure if any of the other teachers knew that either until this week. My classes have also grown out of control anticipating the approaching break. My grade 11 students are extremely hard to control sometimes. After all, this is the first year they have ever been able to use computers, so it’s like a new toy each time they come in. I really don’t like yelling and punishing them when they get out of control because sometimes that fuels the fire, so the other day I just quit teaching and started putting grades in the computer instead and told them if they didn’t want to learn that was fine; then I don’t have to teach, but “we’ll see how well you do on the exam next week.” I told them I only wanted to teach students that wanted to learn. Luckily, they took the bait and begged that I return to teach.

Unfortunately, there’s no music education in The Gambia, or in most African countries. Since I believe music is one the best forms of expression and communication, I’ve started a music club at the school and we’re going to be putting on a concert when we come back from break. The students will be playing/singing 3 traditional songs (one Fula, one Mandinka, and one Wolof), 4 original songs written by the students, 3 modern songs, and a couple different dances. I’m going to do a traditional/instrumental song with a student kora (West African guitar) player also hopefully. I didn’t anticipate that many students would join, but over 70 students have joined so far. I think some of the teachers are questioning my intentions with it. I think a couple teachers are afraid it’s going to turn into a reggae or hip-hop club and that it will flop. Just more motivation to prove them wrong! So I right now I feel like I’m somewhere in between Dangerous Minds and Sister Act Part 2. I’m totally out of my element, and I’m trying to teach/organize music with nay-sayers doubting me.

I’ve also helped the students and teachers make a blog that they can post on. I got the idea from a blog I saw from a Guyana PCV. Please take time to look at their blog every now and then. Keep in mind that English is some of these students’ 3^rd or 4^th language even though English is the “official” language here. They want the world to hear them very much:

http://gambiangab.blogspot.com

The students here are very open with their thoughts, emotions, and feelings and are always writing songs and poems, and every other Saturday they have a drama competition; almost every student comes. I was a judge for one last week. They are extremely creative with the resources they have to work with. A girl fainted right at the beginning of the competition and caused a big commotion. One teacher asked in a joking tone “Was that the first skit?” Girls faint a lot here and the villagers claim it’s because of bad spirits. Sometimes there are outbreaks when girls just start fainting often. Most non-Gambian teachers here think it’s for attention. Who knows?

Initially, I wasn’t too big a fan of the 3-month Peace Corps training we went through with the seemingly endless number of sessions. It recently struck me how much I’ve learned through those, and how much of an advantage it gives me in trying to integrate here. Ughh disgusting, I can’t believe I just said that. That sounds like something they would pay me to say. Another volunteer and I showed some Spanish field nurses around and took them into a couple of the villages, to a naming ceremony, and on a hike. They are here for a month, and their month expires on Friday. I think I learned more in one day of sessions, or definitely in one day of living in a training village than they learned the entire month they were here in regards to the culture and people. They were oblivious and clueless most of the time they were here because of lack of preparation. But some of that probably had to do with their lack of ability to speak much English in a pseudo-English country.

Here’s a picture of us coming back from a hike in the bush to look for bush pigs and monkeys. We didn’t find any because we left too late and it got too hot, or so they say. Supposedly the morning is the best time. We found some shotgun shells and a self-made camouflage hunting fort near a watering hole. Lots of hunters go for the bush pigs, which is very tasty. We stopped here for a break to roast some peanuts that were just picked. They set twigs under the crop, and light it on fire, then smother the flames out and let the shells roast in the smolder in the sand.

Here’s a couple pictures of the river I took tonight a few minutes from where I live:

Updated Photo Album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

A Change of Seasons

2006-11-19T12:58:00.000-08:00

The "cold season" has come. Which means nothing more than sometimes you need a blanket at night, and you don't sweat as much during the day. I'm learning to judge the temperature by the amount that I sweat, but I have no idea what the actual temperature is. I've been told that it gets below a frigid 75 degrees now at night. My scale is as follows: it's either really (explicitly) hot, really hot, hot, pretty hot, warm, and kind of warm. I refuse to add cold to my temperature scale. The next time a Gambian tells me that it's cold I'll bring them to North Dakota for a winter and expose them to -60 windchill. I saw someone wearing something similar to a heavy North Face down coat the other day when it was around 75 degrees. After I leave here, I will have experienced all the extremities and ridiculousness temperature has to offer.

If there's any truth in the saying "you are what you eat," I will soon become a giant piece of rice with limbs made of peanuts. I'm amazed at the amount of rice I'm tolerating. It's pretty good actually, and there's so many different ways of preparing it. The food is a bit more spicy and flavourful here than I expected it would be. I haven't grown tired yet of freshly roasted peanuts (formerly a good cash crop here until the groundnut price plummeted) either. I had a fever of around 102.5 the other night, and all I had the desire to eat was tomato soup and grilled cheese from our old fraternity cook Lorraine (pictured/immortalized on the internet), or of course chicken noodle soup from my mother (sorry, no picture). I definitely haven't lost my taste for American snacks. I devoured the enormous care package my mom sent me with shocking, disgusting, and obesity-like ease. I nearly felt ashamed of myself upon looking in an empty box on Day 3 of my castaway-esque eating binge. I definitely eat plenty here though; don't be surprised if I come back from Africa weighing more. Who gains weight in Africa? I do.

Two weeks ago, night classes started for all the students here. I think the schedule they have now is borderline insane. They go to school from 8 A.M. to 3 P.M., and then they come back at 5 P.M. and stay until 11 P.M. for mandatory studying. Could you imagine that in the U.S.? I don't even think I put that much effort into my college degree. 96.1% of the students last spring failed the English portion of the West African Exam, so this is their solution. It was about the same for Math and Science. None of the students study at home, and some of the parents even forbid their children to study at home, so many people think this is the best way. The importance of high school hasn't quite made it's way into the culture here yet, but many more families are stressing it's importance now than previously. Many students will end up working in their families' fields after they graduate.

I started night classes last week for students that wanted to learn to use the internet. It's going to take a lonnnggg time for everyone to use the internet. I only have 5 computers set up for the internet, there's about 50 students in each class, and I have 5 classes. I take 10 students at a time for 1 hour and that will be the extent of their internet time for 3 weeks, and then they will get another chance when the rotation starts over. My night classes haven't had a very good start. There hasn't been internet here or most of the country for about a week. I tried explaining that if that ever happened in the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars would be lost, but I don't know how well they grasped that.

Nonelection Tuesday (For Me)

2006-11-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, the global warming outlook hasn't gotten much better.

An economic prediction: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6093396.stm

The worst hit? The continent with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of course; Africa. As if it didn't have enough problems. Possible scenerios according to peopleandplanet.net:

It estimates that 30 percent of Africa’s coastal infrastructure could be inundated, and between 25 per cent and over 40 per cent of species’ habitats in Africa could be lost by 2085. Cereal crop yields will decline by up to five per cent by the 2080s with subsistence crops also suffering climate-linked falls.

The new report has been prepared with the help of a team led by Dr. Baglis Osman Elasha, Senior Researcher in the Climate Change Unit of the Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources in the Sudanese Ministry of the Environment.

“We are already seeing climate related changes in my country. The Gum Arabic belt, an economically important crop, has shifted southwards below latitude 14 degrees north, and the rains which used to occur from mid-June to the end of August now start in mid-July until the end of September with important ramifications for agriculture and livelihoods,” she said.

Key findings:

Sea levels

Sea levels could rise by 15 to 95 cm by 2100, according to some estimates. The number of people at risk in Africa from coastal flooding will rise from one million in 1990 to 70 million by 2080.
An estimated 30 per cent of Africa’s coastal infrastructure could be at risk including coastal settlements in the Gulf of Guinea, Senegal, the Gambia, and Egypt.
Along the East-Southern African coast cities at risk include Cape Town, Maputo and Dar Es-Salaam.
A one-metre rise in the Atlantic will lead to part of the economic capital of Nigeria, Lagos, disappearing. Alexandria in Egypt could also be severely impacted costing that country over $30 billion a year in lost land, infrastructure and tourist revenues.
A sea level rise of 50 cm would inundate 2,000 square km of land in Tanzania costing around $50 million.

Biodiversity and ecosystems

One study, examining over 5,000 plant species in Africa, has concluded that around 80 to well over 90 per cent of species’ suitable habitats will decrease in size or shift due to climate change.
By 2085, between 25 per cent and over 40 per cent of species’ habitats could be lost altogether.
Shifts in rainfall patterns could affect the fynbos and karoo in southern Africa by altering the fire regime critical for their regeneration.
Wetland ecosystems such as the Okavanga Delta and the Sudd area could be impacted by decreased run-off.
The coastal zones are also likely to be impacted by climate change with reduced fish productivity, coral bleaching, salt water intrusion, loss of beach facilities and tourism revenues.

Agriculture, water supplies and land

Over 95 per cent of Africa’s agriculture depends on rainfall. Models indicate that 80,000 square km of agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa currently deemed constrained will improve as a result of climate change.
However, 600,000 square km currently classed as moderately constrained will become severely limited.
Experts estimate that cereal crop yields will decline by up to five per cent by the 2080s. There will be a general decline also in most subsistence crops such as sorghum in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Zambia; maize in Ghana, millet in Sudan and groundnuts in the Gambia. - peopleandplanet.net

You really know we're all in trouble when Rubert Murdoch (owner of Fox News and a billion other things) changes his mind. According to zeenews.com "Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch said on Monday he has had a change of heart on climate change and now believes global action is needed -- although not in the form of the US-opposed Kyoto Protocol. "

It's too bad one leader's inactions of one particular country with enormous greenhouse gas emissions could potentially have such a negative effect on an entire continent that has enough problems the way it is. Moral of the story.. don't forget to go out and vote today! I was looking forward to voting a great deal this year, but I've been deprived this inherent right by my own local government.. I took the time to apply for an absentee ballot before I left, but it never came here. Perhaps it's still in transit?? The other volunteers seemed to get their ballots fine. Liberty and Justice for All.. except for Peace Corps volunteers from Hughes County, South Dakota that is.

They're Watching Us

2006-11-04T04:03:00.000-08:00

It's been kind of fun tracking where everyone is coming from, and why they are coming here. I've been using a statcounter to track the internet traffic on this blog. But there's been some disturbing trends:

2 Weeks Ago:

This Week:

I'm losing the Caribbean and apparently gaining some ground in parts of Europe and Asia. Just kidding.. actually I can figure out the graph from 2 weeks ago because I have friends in St. Lucia, France, and Spain. But I'm not too sure about Sweden, Ireland, Thailand, and Romania.

Here's some other stats based on the last 100 visitors in case you're interested, or in case you never knew this was possible. Marketers find this information very useful on real websites. They're watching you:

2 Weeks Ago:
Num State/Region Country Name
14 South Dakota United States United States
10 California United States United States
9 North Dakota United States United States
9 Washington United States United States
9 Unknown
6 District Of Columbia United States United States
5 Castries Saint Lucia Saint Lucia
4 Ile-de-france France France
4 Florida United States United States
3 Texas United States United States
3 Michigan United States United States
3 Oklahoma United States United States
2 Nevada United States United States
2 Vermont United States United States
2 Wisconsin United States United States
2 Oregon United States United States
1 Virginia United States United States
1 Iowa United States United States
1 North Carolina United States United States
1 Wyoming United States United States
1 Georgia United States United States
1 Cataluña Spain Spain
1 Colorado United States United States
1 Minnesota United States United States
1 Gauteng South Africa South Africa
1 Ohio United States United States
1 Illinois United States United States

This Week:
24 South Dakota United States United States
12 California United States United States
10 Oklahoma United States United States
9 - - -
8 Texas United States United States
5 Michigan United States United States
3 Colorado United States United States
3 New York United States United States
2 Nevada United States United States
2 Gavleborg Sweden Sweden
2 Arizona United States United States
2 Minnesota United States United States
2 Banjul Gambia Gambia
1 Kansas United States United States
1 Virginia United States United States
1 Massachusetts United States United States
1 Dublin Ireland Ireland
1 Indiana United States United States
1 Cataluña Spain Spain
1 Illinois United States United States
1 Maryland United States United States
1 Wisconsin United States United States
1 Washington United States United States
1 Ohio United States United States

*NO NORTH DAKOTA. THANKS COLLEGE "FRIENDS"

Internet Service Providers (2 Weeks Ago):
Num ISP City Region Country Name
7 The Zip Connection Seattle Washington United States United States
6 Peace Corps Washington District Of Columbia United States United States
6 Puerto Rico Cable Acquisition Company Inc - - Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
6 South Dakota State University Brookings South Dakota United States United States
5 Cable & Wireless St Lucia Castries Castries Saint Lucia Saint Lucia
5 Midcontinent Media Inc Sioux Falls South Dakota United States United States
5 Rback12c.scrmca Sacramento California United States United States
5 Comcast Cable Communications Inc Tallahassee Florida United States United States
4 North Dakota State University Computer Center Grand Forks North Dakota United States United States
4 Cox Communications San Angelo Texas United States United States
4 France Telecom Ip2000 Adsl Bas Paris Ile-de-france France France
3 Cox Communications Inc Tulsa Oklahoma United States United States
3 Xo Communications Canton Michigan United States United States
3 Adelphia Vista California United States United States
3 Sun Dot Communications Llc Grand Forks North Dakota United States United States
3 Gambia Telecommunications Company Ltd - - Gambia Gambia
2 Road Runner Holdco Llc Racine Wisconsin United States United States
2 Comcast Cable Communications Ip Services Seattle Washington United States United States
2 Golden West Telecommunications Coop. Inc Rapid City South Dakota United States United States
2 Tim Shumaker Pierre South Dakota United States United States
2 Northwest Regional Esd Tualatin Oregon United States United States
2 Verizon Internet Services Inc Burlington Vermont United States United States
1 Integra Telecom Inc Prior Lake Minnesota United States United States
1 Knology Holdings Inc Martinez Georgia United States United States
1 Univ. Of Texas System Office Of Telecom. Services Houston Texas United States United States
1 Sprint Dsl Network Fayetteville North Carolina United States United States
1 Loras College Dubuque Iowa United States United States
1 Illinois College Of Optometry Chicago Illinois United States United States
1 South Dakota State Government Pierre South Dakota United States United States
1 Rback12d.scrmca San Jose California United States United States
1 Buckeye Cablevision Inc Perrysburg Ohio United States United States
1 Rback12a.scrmca Sacramento California United States United States
1 Bresnan Communications Llc Grand Junction Colorado United States United States
1 University Of Wyoming Laramie Wyoming United States United States
1 Afrinic Johannesburg Gauteng South Africa South Africa
1 Telefonica De Espana Sau (ncc#2001038578) Barcelona Cataluña Spain Spain

Where people are coming here from on the internet (2 Weeks Ago):
8 www.bpronet.com/mwu/index.htm
6 www.bpronet.com/mwu/archives/Vol.%208,%20No.%207;%20Thursday,%20Oct.%2019,%202006.htm
5 groups.yahoo.com/group/peacecorps2/message/31079
4 nodak.facebook.com/profile.php?id=29401174
4 darininthegambia.blogspot.com/
4 us.f571.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=1208_526874_17181_2148_22892_0_3319_100581_3702479667&Idx=0&YY=46157&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=25?
4 darininthegambia.blogspot.com/2006/10/friends-i-am-writing-to-you-in-time-of.html
3 hannah-banana-peace-corps.blogspot.com/
3 www.evaninafrica.blogspot.com/
2 us.f347.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=1208_1162781_11205_2140_22892_0_442_100581_3702479667&Idx=0&YY=60055&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=25?
2 www.ringsurf.com/netring?ring=peacecorps;action=list
2 foundtheriver.blogspot.com/
1 us.f337.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?Search=&Idx=0&YY=35650&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&order=down&sort=date&pos=0
1 www.google.com/reader/view/
1 email.secureserver.net/view.php?folder=INBOX&uid=69
1 groups.yahoo.com/group/peacecorps2/message/31101
1 onerevolution.net/
1 www.theartfamily.blogspot.com/
1 nodak.facebook.com/profile.php?id=29401174&hiq=evan
1 www.blogger.com

Cities (2 Weeks Ago):
9 Grand Forks North Dakota United States United States
9 - - - -
9 Seattle Washington United States United States
6 Sacramento California United States United States
6 Brookings South Dakota United States United States
6 Washington District Of Columbia United States United States
5 Castries Castries Saint Lucia Saint Lucia
4 Tallahassee Florida United States United States
4 Paris Ile-de-france France France
3 Pierre South Dakota United States United States
3 Canton Michigan United States United States
3 Vista California United States United States
3 Sioux Falls South Dakota United States United States
3 Tulsa Oklahoma United States United States
2 Las Vegas Nevada United States United States
2 Tualatin Oregon United States United States
2 San Angelo Texas United States United States
2 Rapid City South Dakota United States United States
2 Racine Wisconsin United States United States
2 Burlington Vermont United States United States
1 Grand Junction Colorado United States United States
1 Martinez Georgia United States United States
1 San Jose California United States United States
1 Fayetteville North Carolina United States United States
1 Johannesburg Gauteng South Africa South Africa
1 Prior Lake Minnesota United States United States
1 Laramie Wyoming United States United States
1 Chicago Illinois United States United States
1 Perrysburg Ohio United States United States
1 Dubuque Iowa United States United States
1 Barcelona Cataluña Spain Spain
1 Houston Texas United States United States
1 Manassas Virginia United States

Most of these are friends, relatives, friends of friends/relatives, and friends/relatives of the Peace Corps volunteers in this country. Thanks for coming.

West African Music 101

2006-10-30T05:52:00.000-08:00

My goal here was to compile a good list of West African musicians and give you an idea of what they're about. Allmusic.com supplied me with most of my information. Most of these became popular between the 60's - 90's. I don't have many newer musicians here because they take a while to break out, or they at least take a while to break out on the internet. Also, much of the music scene in Africa is being dilluted by MTV/BET, so much of the newer music lacks any sort of African identity that it once had. But there is definitely still some great new stuff. About half are recommendations and half are ones I've found on my own. Some I've heard and some I've not. I'm going to try to continuously update this blog entry, so please check back if you're interested in West African music.

I'm reluctantly building a decent tape collection because tapes are the most readily available music format here. However, you can find most of these on CD.

Here's a few good introductory musicians. They're big in American, but ironically, no one has heard of them here:

The Refugee Allstars - Sierra Leone - Refugees that fled to Guinea. Very big in the U.S. right now. They're doing a good sized tour there. Check their tour schedule. Someone recently made an award winning documentary about them. Played at Bonnaroo 2006. I just heard they're opening for Aerosmith for some reason. At least they'll get deserved attention.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo - South Africa - Became popular after collaberating with Paul Simon on his "Graceland" album. African harmony at it's best.

Amadou et Mariam - Mali - Big in Europe and America. Good Intro to African Music. Shorter songs, catchy verses, and to the point. Played at Bonnaroo 2006.

Here's a bunch more. Some I have information on, and some I don't. There are some gems here:

*Baaba Mal - Senegal - Very Popular musician. Combines traditional Fula music with jazz, blues, and pop.

*Daara J - Senegalese Wolof Hip-Hop. Combines reggae, funk, and Cuban music.

*Salif Keita - Mali - combines African, jazz, funk, Europop, and R&B influences. In a review of an album, Rolling Stone wrote, "Keita's voice is remarkable in itself. It's high, bracing purity is heightened by a unique phrasing that combines full-tilt warrior strength, the sensual lilt of the Brazilian samba and Islamic prayer calls." My personal favorite along with Ali Farka Toure.

*Mory Kante - Guinea - Combines old with the new. Played in The Rail Band until rivalry with Salif Keita forced him to quit. Very good at the Kora.

Amadou Bansang Jobarteh - The Gambia - According to Rootsworld, Jobarteh's "music is at once ancient and new, praising the heroes and benefactors of his home and family, telling the history of his people, and doing it within a series of structures that leave room for individual expression through improvisation."

Foday Musa Suso - The Gambia - "Rooted in the meditative folk traditions of his native Gambia, but he also collaborated with similarly omnivorous Western musicians including Bill Laswell, Herbie Hancock, and Philip Glass to fuse West African music with classical minimalism, free jazz, and avant funk." -allmusic.com

*Ali Farka Toure - Mali - Enjoyed much international acclaim during his life. Described as the African "John Lee Hooker" bluesman. Ethnic Fusion/African Folk. Amazing.

Toumani Diabate - Mali - "A master of the kora (21-string West African harp), Toumani Diabaté has brought the traditional music of his native Mali to the attention of an international audience with a series of well-received solo albums and some unlikely, but acclaimed, collaborations." -allmusic.com

*Sekou "Diamond Fingers" Diabate - Guinea - "Diamond Fingers" Diabate is the virtuoso lead guitarist for Bembeya Jazz.

Bembeya Jazz International - Guinea - "Specializing in modern arrangements of Manding classic tunes"

Le Raam Daan - Senegal

Super Diamono - Senegal

*The Rail Band - Mali - Mory Kante and Salif Keita combined early in their careers

*Prince Nico Mbarga - Nigeria - His song "Sweet Mother" was voted the #1 African Song. An oldie but a goodie.

*Manu Dibango - Cameroon

Hi-Life International - Ghana

Ashanti Brothers - Ghana

Nana Ampadu & the African Brothers - Ghana

The City Boys - Ghana

Genesis Gospel Singers - Ghana

Israel Cole - Sierra Leone

Sabannoh 75 - Sierra Leone

Daddy Saj - Sierra Leone - Sierra Leone's current anti-corruption crusader. Often called the "Lyrical Warrior." He even went to jail for a while for releasing an anti-government song called "Corruption." Featured on BBC recently.

Bunny Mac - Sierra Leone

*Oumou Sangare - Mali - "She received much of her attention for writing and singing lyrics that specifically addressed concerns of women in modern West African society, such as the conflict between marriage and personal freedom; not a shocking subject in the Western world, perhaps, but a pioneering one for the popular music of the region." -allmusic.com

*Ismaël Lô - Senegal - "With his smooth multi-textured voice and low-key folky style, he and his 12-piece band play strong, complex, percussion-laden mbalax songs that discuss important topics in Senegal ranging from racism and respect to immigration." -allmusic.com

*Youssou N'Dour - Senegal - According to Rolling Stone, "If any third world performer has a real shot at the sort of universal popularity last enjoyed by Bob Marley, it's Youssou, a singer with a voice so extraordinary that the history of Africa seems locked inside it." A rather bold statement in my opinion, but he's enjoyable.

*Barry Thianguel - Guinea - This is the band I went to in my last post. Apparently, their name gets around The Gambia like the telephone game. I've heard everything from Jango Bari to Barry Changel.

*Denotes I've heard them and I recommend them.

Feel free to make any corrections or additions by posting them.

Happy Ramakormasween Elm Street

2006-10-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Ramadan and Koriteh have come and gone, which I can only describe as a combination of Christmas, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street. The latter is possibly an exaggeration, but the combination of Lariam (anti-malarial drug with vivid-dream side effects) dreams and 30+ African singers/chanters outside my hut at 4 A.M. was frightening. I’m not sure what the significance of all if it was, but I’m thinking maybe they were singing because Ramadan was coming to an end. Had I known that was the case, I might have joined them in rejoicing because now I can buy food from street vendors again that were closed during the month of fasting. It all officially came to an end on Monday after a big prayer ceremony (pictured). Monday night was a nightmarish scene in itself because hundreds of kids were rampant in the streets asking me for money. It’s part of some trick-or-treat-like tradition, but some of the kids looked a little too old to be trick-or-treating in my opinion. In addition to being able to eat without hiding in a corner, I can now drum on my djembe again. I met another djembe player who knows a few other local musicians and we're going to try to get together at some point. I talked to one of the bar owners here and he said that we could possibly start playing there once every few weeks or so.

Many businesses here are missing out on a lot of income that could be made. Just simple things like having a better selection of food, more products, or having live music every now and then would boost their profits dramatically. And it's not that they can't afford it. Sometimes they just don't see it and sometimes they see it but would just rather work less than make more money. Simple things like having an entire fruit stand instead of going to the watermelon seller, then the mango seller, and then the banana seller. In the future, I would like to sit down with a few business owners and try to give them a few ideas, but we'll see what happens. Money doesn't necessarily motivate many people here. I would also love to try to develope a live music scene here. There's musicians here and there's a couple different venues, but it seems no one takes any initiative to organize any sort of regular schedule. Every now and then a musician will just show up and play, which is great and everything, but not everyone knows about it. The next day everyone will say "well I would have gone had I known about it." So there's a bit of a promotion and advertisement problem also. Oh well, baby steps.

Speaking of which, I saw an amazing band from Guinea last night called Jango Bari (pictured) or something like that. I haven't been able to track them down anywhere on the internet yet, but I might have their name wrong. They had a drummer, a djembe player, a percussionist, 2 guitarists, and a bassist. I would describe them as very high energy, percussion driven African music with surf guitar tones with delay, and a lot of West African-Jazz thrown in. Guinea is well known for their musical talent, and now I know why. The energy still hasn't worn off of me from last night. The only thing missing was a decent P.A. set up. Unfortunately, I think I gave them false hope because I think they thought I was some talent agent or press photographer from the U.S. They sent a transaltor over to me twice to ask what my name was and where I was from. In either case, they told me they were happy that I was there. At one point the manager or promoter of the event came up to me with his wireless microphone and gave his thanks and told me I was welcomed there in Fula. At least that's what someone told me he said.. in Wolof. It was a little uncomfortable having a couple hundred staring at me waiting for me to say something. My Fula vocabulary maybe consists of 15 words.. so all I said was "jarama (thank you)."

*Photo Album Update: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

Coming Soon: Note Worthy Statistics and Music of West Africa

I'm gonna getcha!

2006-10-18T03:22:00.000-07:00

There is a fear of white people here among some of the children. It is not uncommon for children in Africa (or even the U.S. for that matter) to cringe in fright at the sight of me. This morning I was riding my bike to school and a little boy probably around 7 saw me and was absolutely terrified and began running. He kept running and looking back, running faster and looking back. I probably escalated the situation by letting out a sinister laugh and slightly changing my direction toward him. He eventually caught up with his friends and his fear dissipated.

This reminded me of a story one of the volunteers here told me. He is currently on his 3rd Peace Corps assignment. In addition to The Gambia, he's been in Niger and Kenya. He was posted in a very remote area of Niger where it wasn't uncommon for someone to have never seen a white person before. He was on a jog one day when a kid began running away from him screaming. He soon approached a group of villagers holding clubs and machettes. He didn't think much of it at the time, but he later found out that those people thought he was the Devil and they planned on killing him. Fortunately for him, one of the villagers recognized him and said to the other villagers "Oh, that's not the Devil. That's just a new teacher here." He moved to another village after that incident and the next village thought he looked like Jesus because he had long straight hair.

*Update/Clarification: The majority of children here come running and screaming "Toubab! Toubab! (white person)" like you're Blinky the Clown when they see you.. not cry. For better or for worse because of some European tourists throwing out candy and soccer balls when they come through some of the villages.

The Flood Gates Have Opened

2006-10-13T05:23:00.000-07:00

Good news! I got internet set up at the school yesterday, so now I will have internet in my office/server room/closet. More importantly, I guess, the students and teachers will have internet access for educational purposes. I set up a proxy server so it can share the connection with other computers, but we have very limited bandwidth to work with. We have a 230 Kbps connection which is really fast for this area, but that speed drastically diminishes with each computer that uses the proxy server. I'll probably only share the line with maybe 4-5 other computers at most.

I could have had the internet working a few days ago, but I refused to believe that the Basse area had a wireless MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) without me knowing. Some mysterious man I had never seen before brought a wireless ISDN modem here a few days ago, and said "Plug this in. This will give you internet." I was like "Uhh...no it won't.. idiot.. maybe in China it would give you internet.. go away.. weirdo.. " Well, out of boredom I found the drivers for it and installed it, and it actually worked. It was baffling. Just as mysteriously as the man with the modem appeared, the internet began working. Some U.S. cities are just now getting MAN's, so I was a tad bit surprised. Having wireless MAN's here makes a lot more sense because the country has no copper or fiber infrastructure anyways. And the country is really flat for the most part, so signals can travel with more ease.

Now the problem is allocating enough internet time to 1000 students and 25 teachers. We're probably going to limit it to Grade 12 students only, and the teachers can use it 1 night a week. It's been a mob scene here today. All the students know the internet is working, and they all want to use it. The same goes for the teachers. I don't even know if I'm safe here right now. They've basically been pressing their faces against the windows looking in the computer lab today. They are eager to get in touch with the rest of the world. Many of them see the internet as their ticket to move to the U.S. or Europe. Others just want to go to their favourite football team's website. I'm hoping there are some that want to use it to actually learn something, and there seems to be.

This week was the first week that I had the students using the computers. This week is the introduction to the keyboard, and next week will be the introduction to the mouse. I had each of them type their names, 2 sentences, and 2 questions. Most of the sentences or questions they wrote said something like "Please take me to America with you," or "I want to use the internet," or "Will you teach me to write e-mails?", or "I want to live with my brother in Europe." It's difficult to make sure everyone is getting a chance to use the computer when there's sometimes 5 students on 1 computer and 3 chairs.

Here's some new pictures of where I live and work:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

and my older ones..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97939559@N00/

Here's my host brothers and sisters dancing and playing on my new djembe and a view of Basse from a hill:

So this is fasting...

2006-10-11T05:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not too sure how well my host family speaks for the rest of the Muslim Gambian population, but we've been eating quite well during this month of fasting. At night at least. Last night we ate fresh dates, oranges, watermelon, guava (I think), and bananas; followed by freshly killed and plucked chicken and spicy benachin (fried rice). I might not have electricity and running water during most of the day, but my compound is quite lavish with it's variety of mango, orange, guava (I think), and banana trees (pictured). I don't know what some of things growing in our compound are called in English, but they're good to eat. My host sisters also make this amazing homemade juice out of those fruits.

I was recently introduced to these Mauritanian shopkeepers that I bought some fabric from to have some clothes made. They had another PCV and I over for dinner the other night. They have a very nice apartment building, and they lay their mats out at night on top of the roof that overlooks the city to eat, relax, and talk. Refer to the photo. Evidentally, they don't take having guests too lightly because they slaughtered a sheep for us to eat. They even let us gnaw on the bones and slurp them dry when everything else was finished. They like me because they think I look Mauritanian for some reason. I'm not sure if he was serious or not, but the second night I went there one of the men told me he was going to name his next born child after me (Abdoulie, my Gambian name). I think the baby is due in a few months. He's pictured on the far right. One of my Mauritanian friends that lives there said he has around 15 horses and a few camels in Mauritania I could go ride on. He said I could even take a colt back to American with me since he has so many.

So I'm thinking there must be an ancient Mauritanian prophecy that foretold my arrival.. a Mauritanian looking man shall arrive from the west and you shall feed him well, give him livestock, and name your next child after him, and then he will lead you to Mecca. Actually I think they just want to learn English better. They're good people and pretty hilarious. I put a few pictures up of the school and Basse. Check them out.

Can anyone in here understand what I'm saying?

2006-10-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today the 2nd week of classes began. They have been going fairly well for the most part. The biggest challenge in teaching so far has been making sure the students are understanding what I'm saying. I try to speak very slow and clear, but I still think much is being lost with my American accent. It's also difficult to understand what the students are saying sometimes. I'm getting used to the English here though. If I start making no sense on these blog entries, it's probably because my English is slowly degenerating. All the schools here teach in English. The level of understanding on the part of the students differs greatly. Some know English very well and some barely know any, which can make school a little difficult. As far as grading goes, 40% is passing and many students still fail.

Going into this I had a few doubts about teaching computers in a developing country. I wasn't sure how necessary IT/computer education was, and I wasn't sure how much desire the host country nationals would have to learn computing. Fortunately, most of those doubts have been put to rest. Most of the students' faces glow with excitement each time they sit in front of a computer. I've also had several adults approach me about getting a night class started for more advanced topics. The need in the country for skilled computer users is surprisingly high.

It's been frustrating trying to decide what I should teach and what I should leave out. I gave a pretest last week to to assess the students' computer knowledge and experience. The results were about what I expected; some know a lot and some know absolutely nothing. This complicates teaching greatly. I want the students that know a great deal to progress more, but I must also make sure the ones that know nothing will begin to understand computing. It's a delicate balance. On the pretest, I asked the question "What is the internet?" Answers differed from "A worldwide network of computers that share and distribute information" to "The brain of the monitor." I think I'm going to leave out many concepts and definitions and just give them a more of a chance to use and navigate around on the computers. In their lives, most of the grade 11 students have used computers for a total of 2 hours. There's so many prerequisites I wish the students had. As of right now, the students have 2 years (grade 11 and grade 12) to learn as much about computers as they can. It would probably take 2 years for them just to become decent typers. The problem is they need to be introduced to computers sooner, so they can develope more advanced skills in grades 11 and 12. The upper basic schools (grades 7-9) even have computer labs here, but they aren't being used enough. I'm going to visit the upper basic schools here soon to see what can be done to remedy that. In the future, I would like to certain students here at the high school be able to choose to take a more computer-orientated education path. The principal here is extremely easy to work with and we see eye to eye with most things.

Luckily, I have my more nerdy IT projects to work on when I get frustrated with teaching. This week I'll be meeting with the Regional Education Director to discuss the network and database I'll be implementing in their office. I'll be doing some training there also so they know what they're doing with it. The lab setup at the high school is actually pretty nice. I have Windows 2000 Server running on an IBM eServer with about other 25 computers. The principal is even open to the idea of networking the offices to the lab. Hopefully, we'll be getting internet in the lab in the next couple weeks. We had our first staff meeting on Saturday. One of the most brutal things in all of the Gambia is meetings. The meeting went from 11 am to 4 pm nonstop, and they're even fasting (when the sun is up) this month for Ramadan! No water and no food. I've heard that by the end of the month some people will start falling asleep in mid-sentence in the middle of meetings.

I had a really good free dinner last week with an Embassy official, the British Deputy High Commissioner, and a couple other British women that are in the foreign service. They were in town for monitoring the voting for the election. They were very nice people. They gave me a bunch of rugby equipment that was donated by the UK Rugby Association, so I'll be introducing rugby to the high school. Hopefully no one will die. I don't even know all of the rules, but they also gave me 10 official rulebooks so I'll read up. By the way, the election ended without a hitch. No riots or coup's or anything like that. However, a few weeks ago some volunteers were evacuated from near the southern Senegal border. There's been a civil war going on in southern Senegal for a while now. Apparently, you can hear mortar fire at a couple of the volunteers' sites. They weren't evacuated because of that though. They're actually completely safe as far as the fighting is going, it never crosses the border. The problem is the rebels have taken over some of the villages in Senegal because they don't think the Senegalese army will bomb the villages, so thousands of refugees have fled into The Gambia, and that's where the issue of safety is for the volunteers: the stranger refugees that have fled into their villages. But I guess everything is fine now and they're back at their sites.

My Number

2006-09-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

I now have a cell phone I can usually be reached at here. If you're calling from the US dial:
001-220-783-4921. 220 is The Gambia's international calling code.

People, Language, and Culture

2006-09-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Just in case a few of you are interested.. I'll tell you a little bit about the Wolof language and culture. A large majority of the Wolof people in The Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania are Muslim. This means they often have multiple wives. The reasons for some of the men having multiple wives include: status, religious reasons, delegation of responsibilities, and the capacity for more children which can yield more labor and productivity in the fields. However, it is becoming a more seldom occurance in the urban areas; along with numerous Wolof traditions and customs. A fusion of ancient African and Islam religions is also very present with marabous that make ju-ju's that have Koran verses written on them. These ju-ju's are believed to offer protection for anything from sickness to bullets. It depends on what the ju-ju is designed to do.

In all of the Gambian tribes, it is extremely rude to not greet someone as you approach them. They usually go through about 10 different greetings per meeting. For many of the volunteers, this can get quite redundant and mundane. Once again, this has been phased out for the most part in the urban areas, but in the villages it can be very important. As far as the language goes.. the 30+ pronoun tenses can get confusing. Mangi, Mangee, Dama, Naa, Laa, Man, Maa, Mane, Dinaa, Damaay, Maay are all different ways of saying I or I am; which should all be used in the correct circumstance. If you hold out a vowel or shorten a vowel too much, you can drastically alter the meaning of the word. You can also add several suffices to one word. One word can be one english sentence. For example: "demoonumawantewati" means "I didn't go with again." Everything after "dem" is a suffix. Anyways.. enough of that.

One more interesting cultural tidbit.. The babies here live without names for usually around a week. After that, if there is enough money, a big naming ceremony is held where many of the villagers come. A sheep or a goat is slaughtered to honor the baby, and a feast follows that with music and dancing. How elaborate the ceremony is depends on the time of year and what the family can afford. They did a make-believe naming ceremony for us in the village. Refer to photo. By the way, my Gambian name is Ahblie or Abdoulie Njie. I quit introducing myself as Evan Roth because here it turns into "Efin Roff." No V's or TH's here. Now many of the volunteers here call me f-in.

Sustainability!

2006-09-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

I will now tell you a little more about what I'll be doing. "Self reliance and sustainability" are the buzz words around here. I'm not just here to teach, network, and fix things. What's going to happen after I leave? Well, hopefully not what happened to the high school I'll be at after the last volunteer left. Even though there's supposedly already a computer teacher at the high school, the computer lab hasn't really been running since the last volunteer left 8 months ago (he/she ETed(left early)).

I plan on getting everything up and running as quickly as possible, but I want to make sure my Gambian counterpart understands how I'm doing everything. I will hand over the reigns little by little until they're completely running the show. At least thats what I want to happen. Same thing goes for my other projects. If I get a database or network up and running, and no one understands how to fix, change, or use it after I leave.. it will be disasterous. The goal is to allow them to function without Peace Corps.

Images of Africa

2006-09-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

check em out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

and some more..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97939559@N00/

I Have Returned

2006-09-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

My two month absence on the internet has thankfully come to an end. Training has gone well, but I'm definitely ready for it to end. Right now I'm in the Banjul area. We will be swearing in here as official volunteers on Friday, and then we will be going to our designated sites to begin working. I'll be working/teaching in Basse, which is a city in the northeastern part of the country.

I visited my site a few days ago, and the President happened to be in the area. He was campaigning for the election that's occuring here in a couple weeks. The city was absolutely thriving with life in anticipation for the President's arrival. Trucks were driving around Basse loaded with drummers, xalamers (local guitar), and singers. People were drumming in the streets dancing and clapping.. it was an exciting time to visit my site. At one point I was going to get a bite to eat, and the President's caravan of Hummers started to drive by; shortly after chaos ensued. A rush of hundreds of people bursted past me running and following the President's path. It felt like I was in the middle of running of the bulls. The dust settled eventually and the excitement of the clammoring ground soon became distant down the road; I was in one piece.

One of the nights I was there, some street lights started coming on and people began dancing in the streets because they hadn't seen any streetlights on in Basse for 20 years. It was short lived though. Just a test. Basse is supposed to be getting reliable electricity within the next few weeks. I will have lots of great opportunities for projects when and if that happens. Until then, businesses there will continue using generators for their power needs.

I'll be teaching computers at a high school in Basse, which the President also visited during the morning I left. However, I left before his arrival. Besides teaching, I'll be getting their computer lab in better shape.. and doing a little networking and troubleshooting. Their lab is very nice for Gambian standards. Outside of the school.. I will possibly work on some projects with the Regional Education Office, the Health Office, and the Commissioner's Office. Plenty of room for secondary projects.

The area surrounding Basse is very nice. Lots of trees and palms, and even some hills. I saw several baboons and other monkey species outside 20km or so. Lots of birds. There's apparently even hippos and crocodiles on the river around there, but I haven't gone looking for them yet or anything.

I met my host family while I was there also. They have running water and they will even have solar power soon! Most volunteers in this country don't have that luxury, so I will be fortunate enough to be reminded of that quite often over these next couple years I'm sure. My host family is very nice, and luckily they speak Wolof.. even though the area is dominated by Fulas. I was in a Wolof village for the past couple months learning the language. Actually.. most of the Basse area knows Wolof, but it's just not their primary language. Many of these people grow up learning 3 or 4 languages because it's a big trading center and travel route. It's funny.. you could see 4 people talking to each other.. but one will be speaking Wolof, one Pulaar, one Mandinka, and one Seerer.. but they'll all understand each other. They just want to speak their own language. In some cases.. especially with the Mandinkas and Wolofs.. they just refuse to speak back in the other persons' language even though they know it.

Well, I will have regular internet access from here on out enshallah, so keep your eyes out for more entries. I have tons of photos from the past couple months that I want to share. I'll get them uploaded when I can. I'll have them on facebook and on flickr. I'll post the link eventually. And I'll be getting back to e-mails soon.

Roosters, Prayer Calls, and Footballs

2006-07-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post for at least 8 weeks. On Saturday we're leaving the Banjul area, and I'll be going to a Wolof village to live and learn. The village I'm going to according to many volunteers is "the best in the country." It was given the "Cleanest Village in the Country Award" by President Jammeh, but he also announced in a speech the other day that "The Gambia is a Superpower." It was in reference to successfully holding the African Union Summit here the other week. It's been a nice change lately waking up in the morning to roosters and Muslim prayer calls. It's a relaxing alternative to the unpleasant buzzing of alarm clocks. The Muslims and Christians here live very peacefully amongst each other. They live side by side, go to each other's funerals and ceremonies, and work together all in harmony. Gambians are very accepting of other people, religions, and cultures. But they're also very set in their own. The beach was wonderful the other day. We were throwing around a frisbee for a while, and then some boys came over to us and kicked a soccer ball at us because they wanted us to play with them. So they showed us a few things about soccer, and I tried to teach them how to throw a frisbee. Great cross-cultural experience. Well, once again there are many people waiting to use the internet, so I have to keep this short. I have a lot more to say, and that time will come when I get more of it down. Here's a picture from the beach.. it was also The World Cup Championship Day.. lots of footballers out.

Jamma rek!

2006-07-09T02:12:00.000-07:00

I have arrived! Either I'm in Africa, or I'm hallucinating from my malaria medication again. Wow, it's only been a few days since I've gotten here, but it seems like much longer with all these new experiences. Sometimes you get so used to your daily routine time just flies by. Definitely not the case right now. The Gambia has been great so far, but training has been fairly busy and time consuming. Today is the first day I've really had any free time at all. We will be around the Banjul area until Friday and then we will be going to our training village. I am learning the Wolof language, so I will be going to a Wolof village and live with a host family. Wolof is primarily spoken in certain areas of The Gambia and much of Senegal. It has been fairly hot and humid these past few days. The rainy season has begun, but we haven't seen any rain yet. It will go through October/November or so. I've been taking bucket showers since the first day I've gotten here. They're surprisingly mildly refreshing.

The trip over wasn't too bad for the most part. It felt good to be back in Brussels for a couple hours after my 22 year absence. After we arrived in Dakar, a plane crashed (nothing too serious) on the runway shortly after we landed, so there was a slight delay before we flew to Banjul. We sat at the terminal in the airplane for well over an hour. I thought it was rather bold of Brussels Airlines to play "Brokeback Mountain" for the very Muslim Gambians while we waited. They eventually decided that we could get off the airplane while we were supposed to wait 2 more hours. In actuality.. we got off the plane, took a bus to the terminal, got screened to get IN to the airport, and then they turned us around to get back on the plane. No one seemed to care about how it was handled because things are much more laid back and relaxed here. Definitely a different mindset. Well I have to keep this kind of short because there are many people waiting to use the computers, but I will post much more eventually. And I'm going to the beach soon! The picture here I posted is of a giant mango tree we have training sessions under and we relax/study there when we have time. Oh, by the way, Philly was great during the 4th. Do it sometime.

So Long!

2006-07-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

It just dawned on me this evening as to what I'm actually doing. I'm moving to bleeping Africa in a few days. I'm sure it won't even sink in that much until after I'm there for a while. I'm ready for the next stage in my life to begin. The other day I even busted out one of those "one time back in college" stories. They called me out and pointed out that that was only 3 months ago.

I've been taking great care to appreciate certain things today such as turning on my faucet and thinking "Wow, thanks pretty amazing and convenient how that works," and flushing the toilet and thinking "Huh, what a good idea," and going to my room and flicking on the light and thinking "Pure genius! What will they come up with next?"

Packing went pretty well. I went and got everything weighed, and it was only 60 lbs! 20 lbs to spare surprisingly. The hardest part about packing was probably deciding which CD's I'm going to bring (iPod schmipod) out of my 500+ collection. Tomorrow I'm off to Philly for a few days for staging. Then we fly out of JFK on the 5th for Brussels, Belgium and then we head down to Africa. 3 continents in a day!

A few of you were interested in what CD's I'm bringing. I went for variety in case I'm in the mood for something in particular. Here they are:

The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium, Dead Can Dance - Spirit Chaser, John Denver - Favourites, John Scofield - Plays Ray Charles, Reggae Masters v3, Sigur Ros - ( ), Mofro - Southern Fried v4, Mastodon - Leviathan, Umphrey's - Covers the World v1, Widespread Panic - Ball, Opeth - Still Life, Rush - 1974-1980, Black Label Society - Hangover Music v6, Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Yonder Mountain String Band - Town by Town, Orphaned Land - Mabool, The Bad Plus - 10/7/05, Enya - A Day Without Rain, Bela Fleck/Edgar Meyer - Music for Two, Leo Kottke - Essential, Umphrey's McGee - Safety in Numbers, Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days, Devin Townsend - Terria

Well friends, it's been a good few years. I leave you with this quote that I enjoy (thanks Becca!)

“Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger in the long run is no safer that outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing." - Helen Keller

To Do List

2006-06-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

If I'm going anywhere on the 2nd, I must perform the following predeparture preparations:

-Get SD Driver's License
-Register to vote in SD
-Make absentee ballot arrangements
-Do a trial run packing job
-Weigh the trial run packing job
-Pack everything away that I'll be leaving
-Figure out which 150 songs I'll be loading on my Ipod Shuffle
-Figure out which CD's I'm going to bring
-Drop off my precious CD/DVD collection at a friend's house
-Final draft packing job

...and hopefully I'm not forgetting anything. I should probably start packing in the next couple days since I'm packing for the next 2 years of my life, but maybe it's not really that important anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions

2006-06-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Here I will attempt to answer questions I have been asked frequently:

Q: "Are you going to grow your hair out?"
A: Anyone that knows what happens to my hair when it grows out should know the answer to this one, but we'll see. It would probably offend or disgust most people there and it will be hot and humid often. Refer to photo.

Q: "Are you going to grow a big beard?"
A: Refer to the above answer.

Q: "Aren't you like scared or anything?"
A: No, there haven't been too many boogie man sightings in the Gambia for quite some time.

Q: "How the hell are you going to work with computers when there's no reliable electricity?"
A: Most of the computer labs there run on diesel generators

Q: "What and how are you going to eat?"
A: From MassGeneral.org:

Benechin is a dish of rice cooked in a fish and vegetable sauce, while plasas is meat or fish cooked with vegetable leaves in palm oil and served with fufu (mashed cassava).
For the majority of Gambians afternoon lunch is the most important meal of the day.
The main staple dish in The Gambia is rice with a choice of stew - made with fish, chicken, beef, lamb or goat - usually cooked with vegetables, spices and sometimes peanut butter.
It is the height of bad manners in Gambian society to smell food in front of others. Always give and receive food with your right-hand.
When eating with others around a communal bowl always take your shoes off
Only eat within you own imaginary section of the bowl. It is not considered rude to belch when you have finished your meal, as it is a sign that you have enjoyed the food. Keep talking down to a minimum during a meal.

Q: "Are you going to have running water or eletricity?"
A: Probably not, but it depends on where they put me.

Q: "Where will you live?"
A: Possibly in a mud hut with a thatched roof located in a family compound. But I could live in a cement house with running water and electricity in a more urban area.

Q: "So, Evan, what are you going to be taking with you when you leave?"
A: Well.. Here's my packing list:

Clothing:
7 Button-up shirts
7 T-Shirts
4 Pairs of lightweight khakis
4 Pairs of shorts
1 Pair of jeans
1 Pair of swimming trunks
Quite a few boxers
1 Dress Shirt and Pants
2 Ties
Socks
3 Bandanas
2 Hats

Shoes:
Asics running shoes
Chaco sandals
Flip flops
Bjorn's

Kitchen:
Can opener
Swiss Army Knife
Collapsable Food Containers
Large Zip Lock bags
Packaged mixes

Various:
Flash Drive
Spire Gigapod II USB Harddrive Bay
80 Gigabite Harddrive
A really old and slow laptop (maybe)
Ipod Shuffle
CD Player
CD's/DVD's (maybe)
Shortwave Radio
Decks of cards
Shake-up LED Flashlight
Headlamp
3 Towels
Sheets
Journal
Baseball Glove (there's an annual West African softball tournament)
Alarm clock
Duct tape
Phone cards
2 Pairs of sunglasses
2 Combination padlocks
Nalgene Bottle
Digital Camera
Disposable Camera
Journal
Pictures
AAA Batteries
AA Batteries

Books:
Lonely Planet's Africa on a Shoestring
National Geographic World Atlas (Concise)
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Silent Bob Speaks by Kevin Smith
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Failed States by Noam Chomsky
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

*This list is subject to change because I haven't tried packing it all and have no idea if it will adhere to the 80 pound limit.

The Fiasco

2006-06-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

It all began in December of 2005 when I decided to apply for the Peace Corps. After a rather lengthy application process (refer to highly technical and precise figure 1.1), I was nominated to go to the Caribbean in July. Eventually, I received my invitation for Guyana (kind of Caribbean?). I was originally supposed to leave for there in early June. Much to my surprise and dismay, our training group was cancelled because of potential civil unrest due to upcoming political elections. It was a rather devastating blow to hear this news because I was very excited for the geography and culture and had been learning and reading all about it since I received my invitation. I picked myself up fast and received another invite for The Gambia. I'm extremely excited for this assignment, but I still miss Guyana even though I never went there. At least now when I tell people where I'm going they are correct in assuming the country is located in Africa. It sounds like I'll be working, teaching, training, or possibly all 3 in Information Technology in the Gambian educational system. I'll be departing from Pierre, SD for Philadelphia for staging on July 2nd.

Where I'm now going and where I was going: